


articulation

by zannen



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Canon Universe, Dancing, Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 22:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8345020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zannen/pseuds/zannen
Summary: In the middle of dreary autumn, Baekhyun singing Yixing’s song is like a summer day. Maybe that means something. That’s a dance for another day, he thinks.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ssstrychnine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssstrychnine/gifts).



> The prompt this time was "tarantism: the urge to overcome melancholy by dancing."
> 
> I didn't edit this at all, sry universe

Sometimes, when Yixing is sad, he dances.

He also does it when overwhelmed with joy, or anxiety, or fury or excitement or lust or any number of things that he can’t express without putting his entire body into it. A flick of joints. A roll of the spine. A jump with a soft landing—or a heavy one, because not everything is smooth and precise. This is not ballet, and he is not Jongin.

Sometimes, when Yixing dances, Baekhyun watches.

He’s said countless times that he doesn’t like people watching him practice. That still holds true. But this isn’t practice, and part of Yixing enjoys having an audience, even if it’s a voyeuristic one.

He asks every so often if Baekhyun wants to join him—innocent smile, proffered hand, only halfway joking tone—but Baekhyun just snorts, making a different excuse every time he declines.

“I put my feelings into _words_ ,” or

“It’s tiring enough watching you,” or

“My club moves are too much for you to handle.”

And he just stays there, back pressed against the wall, eyes never leaving Yixing.

Every so often, he sings. There’s already music— _always_ music, because they can’t live without it, wouldn’t want to anyway—but Baekhyun sings with or over it. His harmonies can be sloppy, his runs going too flat, but like the dance, it’s more about feeling than perfection. Sometimes Baekhyun sings with so much fervor his voice cracks, and in a way those are the best moments.

The rain outside has Yixing feeling gloomy. A “Monodrama” kind of day. But dancing to his own song in front of someone else makes it feel like a performance, like something that should be more polished and rehearsed, so he sets it to the instrumental track. Less personal that way, but still his.

Maybe it shouldn’t surprise him when Baekhyun starts to sing, but it does anyway. He starts off hesitant, his Mandarin rough and heavily accented, but seems to grow more confident when Yixing doesn’t stop or laugh.

Baekhyun’s vocals are nothing like Yixing’s. There’s no reservation, no holding back; he does best at higher volumes anyway. His _tell me how to live without you, girl_ is belted out with so much passion it nearly makes Yixing stumble mid-step. It’s raw and alive and full of conflict, as if it had been written for him all along. It’s not without flaws—all the problems he has in their Chinese tracks are more glaring in this song he hasn’t been coached through, and some of the words are comically mispronounced. But despite the mistakes, the emotion is still there. (Past that, the fact that he cared to learn the words at all makes Yixing feel oddly light and tingly. In the middle of dreary autumn, Baekhyun singing Yixing’s song is like a summer day. Maybe that means something. That’s a dance for another day, he thinks.)

At the end of the song, Yixing pauses the music, looks over at Baekhyun. Baekhyun, who is curious and defiant and proud—maybe of himself, maybe of Yixing, or even both of them. A smile spreads from his eyes down to his lips. Yixing smiles back.

“Wanna dance?” Yixing asks. Innocent smile, proffered hand, tone less than halfway joking.

Baekhyun laughs. “Fuck it, why not.”

He grabs Yixing’s hand and lets himself be yanked off the floor, pulled so hard that their bodies collide briefly. The first of many collisions, probably.

Yixing lets him choose the song, anticipating something dirty. Baekhyun does not disappoint.

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/z_nnen) | [Tumblr](http://sweater-soo.tumblr.com/)


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